Strategy Days in Majvik – Reaching for the stars

Strategy Days have become an annual tradition for us – a moment to pause together, reflect on our direction and challenge our thinking. Last year, we gathered in the rugged surroundings of Kakola in Turku. This year, we headed to Majvik in Kirkkonummi to continue this journey together.

In the peaceful setting of Majvik, the entire Funidata team came together for two days to work on our strategy.

Reaching for the stars together

One of the focus areas of our strategy is operational efficiency, which we chose to emphasise this year. The theme is captured in one of our principles: “Reaching for the stars,” reflecting the goal-oriented and ambitious way we work at Funidata.

During the Strategy Days, we took time to reflect on Funidata’s future and build a shared understanding of what reaching for the stars requires from each of us at the individual, team, and organisational levels. The days, facilitated by our partner Lifted, brought the entire team together and created space for in-depth discussion and collaborative development.

Efficiency as an enabler of growth

The goal of the days was to clarify what operational efficiency means right now and how it manifests in everyone’s daily work. The theme was explored from multiple perspectives and through different working methods, ensuring that everyone could reflect on what efficiency means in their own role.

Together, we examined Funidata’s future operating environment and various scenarios, such as customer growth, intensifying competition, rising customer expectations, evolving skill requirements, and raising our overall organisational level. These scenarios served as mirrors, helping us understand how we must develop to remain agile and deliver high quality.

Three key themes emerged from the discussions:

• Scalable ways of working. As we grow, our operations must grow with us.
• Clarity and ownership. Sharpening responsibilities, goals, and decision-making.
• A shared focus. Our actions must clearly strengthen customer and user value.

At the end of the first day, everyone paused to reflect on their own role in Funidata’s future. What do I bring to my team? How do I take responsibility? What is the core value of my role? These reflections created a bridge to the second day’s theme: what does raising the bar mean for us as a team?

Teams, roles and a direction for development

The second day focused on Funidata’s totem animal teams. Lifted introduced theory on the stages of team development, which helped teams form a shared view of their current situation and where they want to go next.

Teams clarified and defined concrete areas for development and considered ways to work together even more effectively. The strategy theme of efficiency was brought into practice by focusing on the aspects that each of us can influence.

One task was to define goals and metrics that support continuous improvement. In addition, teams examined the significance of different roles within the company and the expectations placed on each role as our operations evolve. In many groups, role-specific discussions provided new insight into others’ perspectives and expectations.

Working together across team boundaries

During the Strategy Days, we worked in both mixed groups and within our own teams. Mixed groups enabled discussion across team boundaries and brought together diverse perspectives. Working within one’s own team offered an opportunity to reflect on everyday work from a new angle.

This year, for the first time, Strategy Days also included discussions in role-specific groups. This deepened our understanding of each other’s daily work and reinforced the sense that we are building a shared direction from different roles.

After the official program, everyone could participate in an activity of their choice. This year’s options included aerial yoga, simulator shooting, champagne tasting and a spa experience. We then gathered for dinner together before continuing with strategic discussions the next day. Spending time together outside structured work strengthened trust and team spirit.

Insights into growth and culture

The most important insights from the days crystallised around possible directions for Funidata’s growth and how we can further develop our culture to support it.

We realised that reaching for the stars demands courage, prioritisation, skill development and continuous improvement of our ways of working from every one of us. The focus lies on scalable processes and productisation, continuous learning and a culture of experimentation, clearer recognition of customer and user value, stronger collaboration between teams and greater accountability and decision-making capability.

Funidata has a wealth of expertise and a strong culture of collaboration. We want to make this even more visible and impactful. This requires a shared willingness to question, try new approaches, boldly correct course when needed and continuously improve how we work.

In practice, this means that we must:

• dare to make decisions without complete consensus
• bring ideas forward at an earlier stage
• allow room for failure and learn from it
• share expertise openly across the entire organisation

Stronger shared direction

The Strategy Days left us with a strong sense of shared direction. Although some tasks felt challenging at times, they sparked important discussions that are more difficult to have during everyday work. In the week following the event, we continued reflecting on how the goals set by teams impact different stakeholders. These conversations will continue throughout the spring.

The Strategy Days reinforced what we already know: Funidata is full of expertise, enthusiasm, and a strong desire to grow. Open discussions around our strategy strengthen our shared understanding and commitment. When we dare to think bigger and make space for learning, we can respond to changes in our operating environment with agility and confidence.